Inside Duke Medicine
ED renovations at Durham Regional Hospital
posted February 16th, 2010At a ribbon cutting on Tues., Feb. 9, 2010, Durham Regional Hospital CEO Kerry Watson joined Emergency Department staff to celebrate recent renovations to the hospital’s ED space.
Watson explained that the renovations – two years in the making – are an important investment in the hospital’s commitment to patient care and satisfaction.
Using the existing ED space, the hospital was able to create a new triage bay as well as add four new beds to the acute care area and one more bed to the non-acute area. Other changes include a new discharge planning center, upgraded nurses station and replacement of radiology equipment.
“We’re proud of what we have created,” said Mitch Babb, Emergency Department nurse manager of operations. The new spaces have been in use since October, he explained, and already patients are being seen sooner and more efficiently.
A new Omnicell pharmacy dispenser in the triage room, for example, allows physicians and nurses to treat minor injuries and ailments faster. A benefit to this efficiency, Babb added, is that the ED’s rate of patients who leave before being seen has been reduced by half.
In 2003, the ED saw some 31,000 patients. But that number had doubled by the middle of 2009, and this year more than 61,000 patients are expected to seek care at Durham Regional’s ED. The renovated ED – and a visibly satisfied staff – is ready to care for them.
“We are pleased to see the investment that has gone into improving this space,” said Barbara Griffith, M.D., ED physician and medical staff president. “It is tremendously important for the community that this emergency department be able to function efficiently and have adequate size to care for the number of individuals who come here needing us.”